SFPS Monthly Mailing – March 2018

SFPS Monthly Mailing: March 2018

 

1. Calls for Papers

1.1 Midwest Modern Languages Association Conference 2018

1.2 The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Challenge of a New World Order

1.3 Women and Power in French and Francophone Cultures and Societies (Women in French UK 15th Biennial Conference)

1.4 Expressions maghrébines: Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational (Transnational Maghrebi Cinema)

 

2. Job Opportunities

2.1 Visiting Assistant Professor of French (Kansas State University)

2.2 Teaching Fellow in French Language (University of Warwick)

2.3 College Associate Teaching Officer in French (University of Cambridge)

2.4 Society for French Studies: Visiting International Fellowship

2.5 Powys Roberts Research Fellowship in European Literature (University of Oxford)

2.6 Postdoctoral Researcher: The Global Mediterranean (The Ohio State University)

 

3. Announcements

3.1 Rwanda After 1994: Stories of Change (6 July 2018)

3.2 Language and Identity in Francophone Canada conference (6-7 July 2018)

 

4. New Titles

4.1 The Performance of Listening in Postcolonial Francophone Culture (Liverpool University Press, 2018)

4.2 A Global History of Convicts and Penal Colonies (Bloomsbury, 2018)

 

1. Calls for Papers/Contributions

1.1 Midwest Modern Languages Association Conference 2018

Special Session hosted by Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Literature: Consuming Cultures in French, German, and Spanish Contexts since 1900

This panel invites contributions that explore the concept of cultural consumption by investigating literary texts, cultural objects, or films originally written or produced in Spanish, German, or French since 1900. Comparative contributions are also encouraged. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

–consumption as a mode of engaging with literature, film, performance, or art

–consumption as a mode of engaging with a culture

–consumption in the digital world

–gendered consumption

–intersectional investigations of consumption

–consumer culture

–mass culture

–cultural appropriation

–consumption and sustainability

Papers presented as a part of this panel will receive special consideration for publication in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature. Please send proposals of 300 words to Dr. Kathleen Antonioli (kantonioli@ksu.edu) by April 15, 2018.

 

1.2 The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the Challenge of a New World Order (Abstract Deadline: 1 June 2018)

International Conference to be held in Paris, 5-8 June 2019

Under the aegis of the Institut historique allemand (IHA)/Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris (DHIP), LABEX EHNE, Commission d’histoire des relations internationales/Commission for the History of International Relations

The Peace Conference held in Paris in the aftermath of the Great War remains among the most important yet also most controversial events in modern history.  Although it is often considered to have made a second global war all but inevitable, it has also been praised for providing the basis for an enduring peace that was squandered recklessly by poor international leadership during the 1930s.

A major international conference will take place in Paris in June 2019 to commemorate the centenary of the 1919 Conference from a global perspective. The purpose of this event is to re-examine the history of the Peace Conference through a thematic focus on the different approaches to order in world politics in the aftermath of the First World War. A remarkably wide range of actors in Paris – from political leaders, soldiers and diplomats to colonial nationalist envoys and trade unionists, economists, women’s associations and ordinary citizens – produced a wide array of proposals for a future international and, indeed, global order. These proposals were often based on vastly different understandings of world politics. They went beyond the articulation of specific national security interests to make claims about the construction and maintenance of peace and the need for new norms and new institutions to achieve this aim. To what extent the treaties and their subsequent implementation represented a coherent order remains a question of debate.

By ‘order’, we mean in the first instance, the articulation and development of systematic ideas, institutions and practices aimed at promoting a durable peace that would deliver security, economic recovery and social justice. This distinguishes thinking about ‘order’ from discussions of ‘national interests’ – though there was of course overlap between these two modes of thinking about future international relations. Second, we are interested in ‘order’ as an analytical concept in its own right. This encourages historians to identify, as Paul Schroeder has urged, the shared rules, assumptions, and understandings about a particular set of political relations and to show how specific decisions reflect the norms of the order.

Emphasising the preoccupation of peace-makers with the problem of world order broadens the scope of the familiar questions and debates that have dominated the literature on the Peace Conference.  It also opens the way for posing new questions and for thinking about more familiar questions in new ways. We therefore invite papers addressing the following questions:

1) What were the different conceptions of political, economic and social order advocated at the Paris Conference? What was the relationship between different ideas about the international order, such as a system based on national self-determination and one based on the rule of law? Were there broad over-arching conceptions of an international order, such as liberal or socialist internationalism, that could accommodate more narrowly focused ideas such as free trade or labour rights? How did people conceive of the relationships between self-interest and order? What role did power politics play in conceptions of international order? Were the absentees from Paris – notably the Germans and the Bolsheviks – able to shape the debate about the emerging international order?

2) What were the origins of these different ideas about order? Why was there such an interest in the systematic development of particular orders both during and after the war? Who produced ideas about order, and why? What was in particular the role of NGOs and ordinary citizens? Can an approach based on different ‘generations’ of international actors illuminate this problem in new ways? Was the idea of ‘order’ a reaction to international politics before and during the war? Or did it represent a continuity with certain strands of thinking about international politics that pre-dated the outbreak of war in 1914? What was the relationship between the articulation of war aims and ideas about post-war order?

3) To what extent did contending visions of an international order shape the peace treaties? Did the organization and proceedings of the Conference reflect tensions between the national, the regional and the global? What was the role of regional orders in shaping broader conceptions of a new world order? To what extent did discourses concerning new regional orders reflect fundamental changes in the conceptualization of world politics? To what extent were they a repackaging of the more familiar themes of empire or spheres of influence?

4) How were the peace treaties legitimated to domestic and international audiences? Were subsequent negotiations on the implementation and revision of the peace treaties shaped by the profound debates about international politics that took place before and during the Peace Conference? Were conceptions of international order systematically subordinated to concerns about national security? Conversely, to what extent can it be argued that the Paris Peace Conference produced or contributed to a disorder in European politics that led ultimately to the Second World War?

5) What was the impact of the Paris Peace Conference on views of world order based on gender, class and race? How did women, workers and colonial subjects respond to the peace conference and what was its impact on the emergence of alternative voices in international affairs? Whose voices were heard at Paris in 1919 and whose remained silent or were silenced?

6) What political and diplomatic practices were implied in these various conceptions of international order?  To what extent did these practices shape the course of international relations after 1919?  Did the intellectual debate and political experience of the Paris Peace Conference play a role in shaping a future generation of leaders (such as Jean Monnet and John Foster Dulles)?

Paper proposals

The Conference organizers aim to ensure the conference provides a global perspective on the Paris Peace Conference. We are therefore particularly keen to receive proposals from scholars working on topics pertaining to the non-western world. The organisers anticipate securing limited financial resources to support delegates’ participation in the conference.

The conference languages will be English and French

Regardless of language, all proposals will receive serious consideration.

The deadline for paper proposals is: 1 June 2018

Please send your proposal (abstract in English or French of no more than 500 words) and short CV to Axel Dröber:  ADroeber@dhi-paris.fr.

 

1.3 Women and Power in French and Francophone Cultures and Societies (Women in French UK 15th Biennial Conference)

Leeds, 17-19 May 2019

Confirmed keynote speaker: Leïla Slimani

The topic ‘Women and Power’ is a particularly pertinent one in France today.  Fifty years after May ’68, French society has seen a resurgence of politicised movements such as the ‘La Barbe’ or, more recently, the ‘Balance ton porc’ campaign against sexual harassment and sexism in public life. Equally, French feminist writing has played a pivotal role in challenging patriarchal literary, social and sexual norms, and much contemporary women’s writing in French continues to push the boundaries in its representation of the power relations governing women’s experiences. But where precisely does power in contemporary France lie? How is power gendered and what do its shifting fault lines tell us about women’s purchase on power? Can the emphasis on ‘l’égalité dans la différence’ in some currents of French feminism be reconciled with a genuinely egalitarian, power-sharing society? How is women’s relationship to power articulated according to class, generation or ethnicity? And what are the challenges and contradictions of women possessing power? The conference will focus on historical and contemporary instances of power (and powerlessness), empowerment (and disempowerment) in order to explore the contention that what constitutes women’s ‘power’ requires renewed investigation and theorizing. Further, it will suggest that this extensive area of investigation is best served by working across disciplinary boundaries. Papers from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and panels of an interdisciplinary nature are therefore encouraged, as are papers from graduate students and researchers outside the UK.  Papers should not last longer than 20 minutes.

Suggested broad areas for papers / panels include but are by no means limited to:

• Spaces of power (including virtual spaces, the media, everyday life)
• Women and power in theory and thought
• Women in the political sphere (including representation, policy and forms of activism)
• Women and the world of work (including academia)
• Women and media production (including female-run publishing houses, female film directors, and translation)
• Women and power in literature and film
• Power, bodies and embodiment (including sex and sexuality, violence, and the politics of reproduction)
• Power, language, voice and voicelessness (including oratory and laughter)
• Power and marginalisation (colonialism, postcolonialism, race, ethnicity)
• Power and the life course (including childhood, adolescence, motherhood and old age)

In partnership with our colleagues in WiF North America, WiF UK is furthering the One WiF, One Bookproject that began in 2017. The aim of this initiative is to help promote critical interest in less known French and francophone women writers and thus to increase the readership of their corpus.  The author for the 2019 conference is Claire Legendre and the text is L’Écorchée vive (2009). Proposals for papers or a panel on this author are welcomed.

The 2019 conference is run in association with London University’s Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women’s Writing (CCWW), based at the Institute for Modern Languages Research.

Proposals for papers, or for panels (consisting of three papers), in English or in French (300 words maximum) should be sent to ALL THREE PROGRAMME ORGANISERS (addresses below) by 1 September 2018. Proposals should be accompanied by a short CV (100 words maximum) and institutional affiliation.

Programme Organisers:

Shirley Jordan:                          shirley.jordan@newcastle.ac.uk

Siobhán McIlvanney:                siobhan.mcilvanney@kcl.ac.uk

Jackie Clark:                              Jackie.clarke@glasgow.ac.uk

 

 

1.4 Expressions maghrébines: Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational (Transnational Maghrebi Cinema)

Revue de la Coordination internationale des chercheurs sur les littératures du Maghreb

www.ub.edu/cdona/em

Vol. 18, nº 1, été 2019 : Appel à articles

Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational

Dossier coordonné par William Higbee

Date limite de soumission des articles : 30 juin 2018

Parution : juin 2019

La mobilité des cinéastes, acteurs et images entre pays et continents ont fait du cinéma un médium transnational pratiquement depuis son origine. À l’ère de la digitalisation, plus que jamais, la portée globale du cinéma et son écho auprès des publics issus de la diaspora, les co-productions internationales indispensables pour beaucoup de cinémas nationaux ainsi que la circulation des films au travers des festivals de cinéma et des réseaux de distributions (légaux tout autant qu’illégaux) rendent toute théorisation du cinéma dans le seul cadre de l’État-nation pratiquement impossible.

Penser en termes de « cinéma transnational » revient donc à mettre en exergue la diversité des représentations à la fois locales (spécifiques à une culture) et globales (capables de tisser des liens avec différents publics et d’autres cultures cinématographiques au-delà du pays d’origine). Cet accent sur le transnational interroge tout particulièrement la notion de frontières, leur traversée et les « zones de contact » interculturelles qu’elles génèrent. Le transnational met aussi en valeur les films que l’on pourrait qualifier de postcoloniaux, « accentués » (Naficy) ou diasporiques. Enfin, le cinéma transnational s’intéresse aux politiques de production et de circulation des films à la lumière des inégalités et des possibilités offertes par la multiplication des sites de production et de réception qui remettent en question la prééminence de l’État-nation et l’apparente immuabilité des relations centre-périphérie.

Ce numéro spécial d’Expressions maghrébines se propose d’explorer ces problématiques dans le cadre du cinéma maghrébin transnational, défini ici en termes de production, circulation et réception de films en Algérie, Tunisie et au Maroc ainsi qu’entre ces pays et dans la diaspora maghrébine partout dans le monde. Les éditeurs sollicitent des articles inédits en français ou en anglais sur toutes les thématiques associées au cinéma maghrébin transnational, en particulier :

• La théorisation du cinéma maghrébin transnational dans sa relation au « cinéma-monde », au cinéma postcolonial ou au cinéma « accentué »
• Le cinéma transnational et le film politique : contestation et politiques de représentation
• La théorisation transnationale du genre cinématographique, de l’esthétique et du jeu (« stars ») dans le cinéma maghrébin
• Cinéma/cinématographie diasporique : le réalisateur maghrébin comme « cinéaste de passage » entre l’Europe et le Maghreb
• Les co-productions transnationales : les co-productions régionales (à travers le Maghreb), les co-productions « sud-sud », les co-productions avec des producteurs européens
• La distribution des films maghrébins et ses réseaux formels et informels
• Le rôle des festivals comme réseaux transnationaux pour le cinéma maghrébin.

Les articles ne devront pas dépasser 40.000 signes, espaces inclus (6.000 mots environ). La ponctuation, les notes et les références doivent être conformes aux normes appliquées par la revue : http://www.ub.edu/cdona/em#guide

Les demandes de renseignements complémentaires et les articles complets doivent être adressés par courrier électronique à la Présidente du comité scientifique à : expressions.maghrebines@ub.edu

La section VARIA de la revue maintient toujours un appel à articles (sans date limite de soumission) concernant les cultures maghrébines : littérature, cinéma, arts…

Vol. 18, no. 1, Summer 2019: Call for Papers

Transnational Maghrebi Cinema

Edited by William Higbee

Final Papers Submission Deadline: 30 June 2018

Publication: June 2019

With the movement of filmmakers, actors and images between countries and continents throughout cinema’s long century, film has been, almost from its very inception, a transnational medium. More than ever in the digital age, the global reach of cinema and its importance for diasporic audiences, the necessity of international co-productions for many national cinemas as well as the international circulation of film through film festivals and distribution networks (both legal and illegal), make it virtually impossible to theorize cinema solely within the framework of the nation-state.

To think in terms of “transnational cinema” is thus to emphasize a diversity of representations that are simultaneously local (culturally specific) and global (with the potential to connect with audiences and other film cultures beyond the country of origin). The transnational also suggests a strong preoccupation with borders, border crossing and intercultural “contact zones” as well as a particular focus on films that could be described as postcolonial, accented or diasporic. Finally, transnational cinema is concerned with the politics of production and circulation of film, recognizing the imbalances of power and the possibilities for multiple sites of production and reception that challenge the primacy of the nation-state and the apparent immutability of center/periphery relations.

This special edition of Expressions maghrébines aims to explore these facets of transnational cinema in the context of Transnational Maghrebi Cinema – understood here as the production, circulation and reception of films within, between and beyond the countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco as well as in the Maghrebi diasporas across the globe. The editors seek to publish new research in either English or French across all areas of transnational Maghrebi cinema but would especially welcome contributions on the following themes:

• theorizing transnational Maghrebi cinema in relation to cinéma-monde, post-colonial and accented cinema
• transnational cinema and political film: protest and the politics of representation
• thinking “transnationally” about genre, aesthetics and stars/performance in Maghrebi cinema
• diasporic filmmaking: the Maghrebi director as cinéaste de passage working within/between Europe and the Maghreb
• transnational co-production viewed as: regional co-production (across the Maghreb), “south to south” co-productions and co-productions with European producers
• distribution of Maghrebi films in both formal and informal distribution networks
• the role of festivals as transnational networks for Maghrebi cinema

Articles should not exceed 40,000 characters, spaces included (approximately 6,000 words). Punctuation, footnotes, and references must conform to the journal’s norms: http://www.ub.edu/cdona/em#guide.

Articles or requests for further information should be sent to the Chair of the Editorial Board atexpressions.maghrebines@ub.edu.

The journal’s VARIA section maintains an open call for articles concerning Maghrebi cultures: literature, cinema, arts…

 

2. Job Opportunities

2.1  Visiting Assistant Professor of French

The Department of Modern Languages at Kansas State University invites applications for a Visiting Assistant Professor of French for a one-year appointment, beginning in fall 2018. We seek a generalist with experience teaching beginner- and intermediate-level French language courses. Teaching load is 3/3 per academic year, including Composition and Grammar. The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to integrate and teach literature and culture at all levels (from elementary language to advanced undergraduate courses). Minimum qualifications include: ABD or Ph.D. in French or related field with native or near-native proficiency in French and English. Candidates must be willing to participate in extra-curricular activities to promote recruitment and retention in the French major and minor. Field of specialization is open; however, preference will be given to those candidates with a demonstrated expertise in one of the following areas: translation and stylistics, Francophone culture and literature, cultural studies, or second language acquisition. The successful candidate will value multicultural perspectives in both teaching and research. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States at the time of employment. Salary will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Review of applications will begin April 6, 2018 and will continue until position is filled.  To apply lease submit letter of application addressing teaching philosophy, experience, and research interests to the attention of Dr. Melinda Cro, Search Committee Chair, along with vita, and transcripts (official or unofficial). Letters of recommendation will be requested at a later date. Preliminary interviews will be conducted via Skype.

For more information and to apply: http://careers.k-state.edu/cw/en-us/job/503402/visiting-assistant-professor-french

Kansas State University is an EOE of individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Background check required.

 

2.2 Teaching Fellow in French Language (University of Warwick)

French Studies, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick

Salary £29,799 – £38,833 per annum, permanent position

Vacancy Overview

You will have experience of teaching in higher education, and you will be expected to teach and supervise undergraduate students to a high standard. You will have the ability and willingness to support curriculum development, teach French language, and you will be expected to participate as appropriate in the administration of the department’s activities. You will be a native or near-native French speaker and will have a postgraduate qualification or equivalent in French Studies or cognate discipline, and an excellent command of spoken and written French and English. Informal enquiries to Dr. Douglas Morrey, Head of French Studies (School of Modern Languages and Cultures), University of Warwick, D.J.Morrey@warwick.ac.uk for more information.

Job Purpose

To undertake teaching and administrative roles to support the department’s teaching programme and to develop and enhance its teaching reputation.

Duties and Responsibilities Teaching

1. To prepare, deliver, and mark classes at all levels within the department’s programmes, in accordance with departmental practice.
2. To supervise undergraduate and postgraduate work where appropriate, provide advice on study skills, assess progress of students and provide constructive feedback.
3. To develop your own teaching materials, methods and approaches and contribute to the design, planning and development of course objectives and materials, ensuring that course content, materials and methods of delivery will meet the learning objectives.
4. To collaborate with colleagues in the continuous review and development of the curriculum at all levels and in the design and launch of new modules.
5. To keep up to date with developments in teaching methods, and reflect on practice and the development of own teaching and learning skills.
6. To support and comply with departmental teaching quality assurance standards and procedures.
7. To undertake teaching-related academic tasks (e.g. setting examination papers and questions, marking, collecting student feedback through questionnaires, invigilation and pastoral support of students, as requested) required to sustain the delivery of high-quality teaching.
8. To engage with pedagogic research and/or scholarship as a means of informing the development of teaching and learning strategies.

Administration and Other Activities

1. To undertake departmental roles and management functions which may reasonably be required by the Head of French Studies, including attendance at departmental meetings and participation in other committees and groups within the department, the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, the Faculty, and the University.
2. To engage in continuous professional development, including participation in relevant professional activities.
3. To undertake as appropriate external commitments which enhance the reputation of the department. The duties and responsibilities outlined are not intended to be an exhaustive list but rather an indication of the main aspects of the post. The post-holder will be required to be flexible in her or his duties.

Closing Date: 23 Apr 2018

For further details, see https://atsv7.wcn.co.uk/search_engine/jobs.cgi?owner=5062452&ownertype=fair&jcode=1718593&vt_template=1457&adminview=1.

 

2.3 College Associate Teaching Officer in French

St Catharine’s College in the University of Cambridge invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for a College Associate Teaching Officer in French. The Fellowship is tenable for four years from a date no later than 1 September 2018.

Requirements
The post-holder will be required to undertake eight hours of small-group College teaching per week during Terms. In addition, the post-holder will be required to assume a role as one of the College’s Directors of Studies in Modern and Medieval Languages. The post-holder will be required to provide supervisions on the first-year course Introduction to French literature, linguistics, film and thought to St Catharine’s students, and at least one of the scheduled papers in French literature, culture and film in each of parts IB and II of the MML Tripos to students from St Catharine’s and other colleges. It is expected that the post-holder will be elected to an Official Fellowship of the College, which carries a range of benefits and responsibilities. Remuneration will be at point 40 on the University of Cambridge’s pay scale (currently £30,688). There may also be opportunities to contribute to teaching programmes in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, which would be separately remunerated.

Closing Date: Monday 30 April 2018

For further details, including how to apply, go to: https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/about-us/vacancies/college-associate-teaching-officer-french.

 

2.4 Society for French Studies: Visiting International Fellowship

The Society for French Studies wishes to remind colleagues that it is still accepting applications for the 2018 Visiting International Fellowship scheme. In light of the recent industrial action, the deadline for this round has been extended to 30 April 2018.

The scheme is intended to support an annual visiting fellowship, tenable in any UK or Irish university, or institution of higher education in the UK or Ireland, to allow outstanding academics in the French Studies field based in overseas universities to spend time at UK or Irish higher education institutions.

In order to extend the global reach of the scheme, the Society has increased the maximum value of the award to £5,000 and extended the maximum length of the Fellowship to eight weeks. It strongly encourages applications to support visits from scholars in all parts of the world, including Africa, Australasia and the Caribbean. The key objective of the Fellowship grant is to encourage the internationalization of French Studies in the UK and Ireland through engagement with those active in the field elsewhere. It is also intended that the Fellow will use the occasion to further their own academic interests, and to visit more than one UK institution. Visits should be of no more than eight weeks’ duration, although an extended period may be appropriate if additional funding is available from institutional sources.

Full details of how to apply are on the Society’s website: www.sfs.ac.uk/funding-visiting-fellowships/.

Applications must be completed by an academic member of staff in the UK or Irish host institution. The UK or Irish host applicant is also expected to organise, direct and take academic and organisational responsibility of the fellowship. Host applicants must be members of or associated Higher Education departments of French (or departments which teach French) in the UK and Ireland. Main applicants must also be members of the Society for French Studies. No more than one application may be submitted by any institution in one academic year (this applies to collegiate and non-collegiate universities alike, and includes joint applications from two or institutions).

The Society will offer a grant of up to £5,000 to support travel, accommodation, subsistence and other expenses; up to an additional £500 is also available to cover the costs of visiting other institutions in the UK or Ireland. Personal expenditure on items such as visa costs, car hire and health insurance are not eligible, and it is expected that host institutions will offer support for these. Application for this award will be competitive, and it cannot be made retrospectively. Informal enquiries can be directed to Professor Edward Welch, University of Aberdeen, edward.welch@abdn.ac.uk.

 

2.5 Powys Roberts Research Fellowship in European Literature (University of Oxford)

St Hugh’s College, Oxford and Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford

Applications are invited for the Powys Roberts Research Fellowship in European Literature at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, tenable from 1^st October 2018. This is a fixed-term 3 year position intended for an individual who has recently completed a doctorate (that is, who has either submitted their thesis by the application deadline, or whose degree was awarded within the three preceding years), and who wishes to embark on an academic career. The post is open to those working in the fields of French & Francophone, German or Italian Literature in any period.

The primary purpose of the Fellowship is research, and the postholder will be expected to use the period of the Fellowship to begin building an international research profile. He or she will normally be expected to offer some teaching for the College, under the direction of the Fellows in the subject, and/or to participate in the teaching and examining of the relevant Sub-Faculty as appropriate, up to an overall combined College and Faculty maximum of six hours per week in term. The postholder will have the ability to bring advanced research projects to fruition, excellent presentation skills, and the ability to contribute to a research community.

The basic stipend of the Fellow is currently £23,772 per annum, with free single accommodation, or a housing allowance of £9,260 per annum.

More information on the role and how to apply can be found below:

Powys Roberts 2018 – FPs

The closing date for receipt of applications and references is Noon on 30^th April 2018.

St Hugh’s College, Oxford is an equal opportunities employer.

 

2.6 Postdoctoral Researcher: The Global Mediterranean

For application instructions, please visit: https://www.jobsatosu.com/postings/85478

The Departments of Comparative Studies, French and Italian, German Languages and Literatures, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and The Film Studies Program, within the College of Arts and Sciences, seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher to join our team. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college and the academic heart of the university. The College hosts 81 majors. With 38 departments, 20+ world-class research centers, and more than 2,000 faculty and staff members, students have the unique opportunity to study with the best artists, scholars, and scientists in their field. The College values diversity and offers a supportive, open, and inclusive community.

The Departments of Comparative Studies, French and Italian, German Languages and Literatures, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and The Film Studies Program at The Ohio State University invite applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Researcher in the area of “The Global Mediterranean.” We seek an emerging scholar or artist with proven interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary interests working on global migration, specifically Middle East/North Africa flows to southern and northern Europe. Specializations may include areas such as Mediterranean Studies with research and creative interests in migration studies; global migration studies; refugee and migration issues; the global south; translation studies; documentary filmmaking; screen studies; visual culture; urban geographies; environmental studies (water). While the topical focus and geographic areas are open, the successful candidate must be able to address these issues in an interpretative framework.

We seek a colleague who has the resources to: 1) develop and contribute to interdisciplinary initiatives in research or creative work and teaching with departments, programs, and centers; 2) offer innovative cross-listed and collaborative graduate and undergraduate courses; 3) mentor undergraduate and graduate students interested in issues of migration and globalization; and 4) who will be an active member of the Migration Studies working group and will be instrumental in the creation of a Mediterranean Studies working group. We are also interested in applicants who could be involved in outreach efforts with migrant groups in Columbus and thus serve as a bridge between OSU and the community.

The position carries a one course per semester teaching load. This is a twelve-month appointment which may be renewed for up to two years. The successful candidate will be affiliated with one or more of the sponsoring units: The Department of Comparative Studies; The Film Studies Program; The Department of French and Italian; The Department of German Languages and Literatures; The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. This fellowship is made possible by Ohio State’s Humanities and the Arts Discovery Theme.

To apply, please submit a cover letter, 1000-word proposal (excluding works cited), curriculum vitae, a sample course title and brief (200-250 word) description for both a graduate and an undergraduate course, and names of three references. Inquiries may be directed to Dana Renga (renga.1@osu.edu) and Robert Holub (Holub.5@osu.edu). Review of applications will begin on May 1, 2018, and will continue until the position is filled.

 

3. Announcements

3.1  Rwanda After 1994: Stories of Change (6 July 2018)

‘Rwanda After 1994: Stories of Change’ –  an international conference to be held at the University of St Andrews (Scotland, UK) on 6 July 2018.

Confirmed Keynotes: Esther Mujawayo-Keiner and Malaika Uwamahoro

Rwandan Stories of Change is pleased to announce an international conference to be held at the University of St Andrews on the 6^th of July 2018. We will bring together scholars from across the Humanities and Social Sciences to explore how Rwanda has changed since the genocide of 1994.

Since 1994 Rwanda has undergone remarkable shifts and transitions: culturally, economically, and educationally the country has gone from strength to strength. This conference seeks to gather diverse perspectives on the changing social and cultural fabric of Rwanda in the past 24 years. We invite participants to consider the context of these changes, particularly in relation to the ongoing importance of remembering and in wider developments in the Great Lakes and East Africa regions. Equally we are keen to explore what stories of change are emerging from Rwanda: creative writing and testimonies, as well as national, regional, and international political narratives. Which frameworks might be most useful for understanding different kinds of change? And looking forwards, what new directions are emerging, and how will Rwanda’s trajectory be shaped by other global factors?

The conference programme has now been finalised and you can register here. Attendance at the conference is free and a small number of postgraduate travel bursaries will be available. Maps and travel information are provided online, and accommodation can be booked here and here.

Confirmed speakers: Laura Apol, Elham Atashi, Jonathan Beloff, Ananda Breed, Eloїse Brezault, Emma Brunton, Piotr Cieplak, Phil Clark, Bennett Collins, Erika Dahlmanns, Georgina Holmes, Astrid Jamar, Erin Jessee, Grace Kagoyire, Meghan Laws, George MacLeod, Sela Muyoka, Ayala Maurer-Prager, Zoe Norridge, Richard Ntakirutimana, Nicola Palmer, Patricia Pasick, Paul Rukesha, Benjamin Thorne, Julia Viebach, Ceri Whatley, Stephanie Wolfe.

Full details and registration here: http://rwandan.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/conference/.

 

3.2 Language and Identity in Francophone Canada conference (6-7 July 2018)

Registration for Language and Identity in Francophone Canada conference now open. The conference, hosted by the Centre for Quebec and French-Canadian Studies, will take place at Senate House in London (UK) on 5th and 6th of July 2018. This link will lead you to the registration page, where you can also find a copy of the preliminary conference programme. Confirmed keynote speakers: Krista Byers-Heinlein, Concordia University Leigh Oakes, Queen Mary University of London Sherry Simon, Concordia University Matthew Hayday, University of Guelph Conference organisers: Ruth Kircher, Liverpool Hope University (lead organiser) Craig Moyes, Kings College London Sponsors: This conference is generously sponsored by the Canada-UK Foundation, the University of London’s Cassal Endowment Fund, and the Quebec Government Office in London.

 

4. New Titles

4.1 The Performance of Listening in Postcolonial Francophone Culture (Liverpool University Press, 2018)

By Jennifer Solheim

The Performance of Listening in Postcolonial Francophone Culture argues that globalized media has allowed for efficient transmission of transnational culture, and in turn, our everyday experiences are informed by sounds ranging from voices, to music, to advertising, to bombs, and beyond. In considering cultural works from French-speaking North Africa and the Middle East all published or released in France from 1962-2011, Solheim’s study of listening across cultural genres will be of interest to any scholar or lay person curious about contemporary postcolonial France. This book is also a primer to contemporary Francophone culture from North Africa and the Middle East. Some of the French-speaking world’s most renowned and adored artists are the subject of this study, including preeminent Algerian feminist novelist, filmmaker and historian Assia Djebar (1936-2015), the first writer of the Maghreb to become part of the Académie Française; celebrated Iranian graphic novelist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, Chicken with Plums); the lauded Lebanese-Québecois playwright and dramaturge Wajdi Mouawad (Littorial, Incendies), and Lebanese comic artist and avant jazz trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj, whose improvisation with Israeli fighter jets during the 2006 Israeli War, “Starry Night,” catapulted him to global recognition. An interdisciplinary study of contemporary Francophone cultures, this book will be of interest to French scholars and students in literary studies, performance studies, gender studies, anthropology, history, and ethnomusicology.

For more information, see https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/products/95752.

 

4.2 A Global History of Convicts and Penal Colonies (Bloomsbury, 2018)

By Clare Anderson

A Global History of Convicts and Penal Colonies Between 1415, when the Portuguese first used convicts for colonization purposes in the North African enclave of Ceuta, to the 1960s and the dissolution of Stalin’s gulags, global powers including the Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, British, Russians, Chinese and Japanese transported millions of convicts to forts, penal settlements and penal colonies all over the world. A Global History of Convicts and Penal Colonies builds on specific regional archives and literatures to write the first global history of penal transportation. The essays explore the idea of penal transportation as an engine of global change, in which political repression and forced labour combined to produce long-term impacts on economy, society and identity. They investigate the varied and interconnected routes convicts took to penal sites across the world, and the relationship of these convict flows to other forms of punishment, unfree labour, military service and indigenous incarceration. They also explore the lived worlds of convicts, including work, culture, religion and intimacy, and convict experience and agency.

For more information, see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/a-global-history-of-convicts-and-penal-colonies-9781350000674/.